Wednesday, 3 July 2013

BCS President's Report June 2013

28th June 2013

This month’s review of anniversaries starts
with probably one of the most well-known photographs of
the 1960s. On 5th June 1963, John Profumo, the Secretary of State
for War resigned over his affair with Christine Keeler and a few days later on
8th June, Stephen Ward was charged with living on immoral earnings.

Not
really a map related story, I will admit, but the rationale behind choosing the
story is that it shares its 50th birthday with the BCS. It also
shows how times have changed, as I suspect that a similar story now would
barely make the headlines, let alone lead to a minister resigning. Having said
that Silvio Berlusconi has just been sentenced to 7 years for goings on at his
‘bunga bunga’ parties, so perhaps things haven’t changed that much after all!

In what is altogether a more pleasant story,
on 19th June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova the first
woman in space, returned safely to Earth. Her call sign for this flight was Chaika
(Seagull), later commemorated as the name of an asteroid. So in this respect
she shares an honour with Michael Palin as we learnt in April that he too has
had an asteroid named after him. Little known fact of the month: In order to
join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was only inducted into the Soviet Air
Force in an honorary capacity and thus she also became the first civilian to go
into space.

Back in January I noted the 150th anniversary of the London
Underground. The lines and extent have obviously changed a lot over the 150
year period, but did you know that at one stage you could have travelled from
Windsor to Southend on the London Underground? These two ‘ghost’ stations,
along with all the others that have been closed mainly due to low usage are
shown on a map of the current network - London
Underground Ghost Stations.

This year also sees the 400th Anniversary
of Japan-British Relations, Japan400 commemorates the start of diplomatic, trading
and cultural relations between Britain and Japan in 1613. It celebrates the
spirit of discovery and mutual regard that has inspired many successful
collaborations and a remarkable friendship between two societies on opposite
sides of the world.

This is something that we are very pleased to recognise as two UK-based
Japanese charities are currently supporting the BCS Restless Earth programme
with financial grants – The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Japan
Society. Thanks to their generosity we are currently able to offer the
workshops totally free of charge to schools. The programme for 2013/14 is
already well advanced with 12 workshops arranged for the autumn and spring
terms.

Autumn Term

Thursday 26th September Stanwell School, Penarth

Thursday 3rd October Feltham Community College
(New)

Wednesday 16th October Prior’s Field School, Godalming
(New)

Thursday 14th November Altrincham Grammar School for
Boys

Wednesday 4th December The Highfield School, Letchworth Garden City (New)

Spring Term

Week beginning 20th January Godalming Sixth From College

Monday 3rd February Calthorpe Park School,
Fleet

Tuesday 4th February Calthorpe Park School,
Fleet

Tuesday 11th February Bedford Girls School (New)

Tuesday 26th February Our Lady's Convent High
School, Hackney

Tuesday 18th March Kirkbie Kendal School,
Kendal

Friday 28th March Clapton Girls’
Academy, London

We are always keen for BCS members to get involved, so if one is
happening near you please do get in touch and then come along to help. We have
been trialling a GIS version of the workshop to run alongside the traditional
paper solution and we hope to roll it out to schools next year. As GIS now takes
a more prominent place in the Geography curriculum we anticipate that demand
will grow even more.

The longest straight line international boundary in the world? My thanks
to Ken Field for tweeting about the video explaining the delineation of the
US/Canada International Boundary, an intriguing 5 minutes that I can guarantee
will tell you things that you didn’t know! US
Canada Border

I will be attending the Black Country Experience
weekend in mid-July so hope to see you there. This two day trip to the Black Country in
July is to sample the best the area has to offer. Local writer and broadcaster, Graham Fisher MBE, will act as our
guide through an exploration of the area’s industrial heritage - from the first
canals built for transportation of mineral ores to the manufacturing of glass,
its demise and the rise of artisan glassmaking. Whilst several locations will be offering their hosting services in house, much
of the two days will be conducted by Graham who is a specialist in inland
waterways (awarded an MBE in 2004 for services to the inland waterways) and an
ambassador for the Stourbridge Glass industry. He has made extensive enquiries
into the links between the two and has written books on the subject. He is thus
ideally placed to act as our guide.

This month’s cartographic curiosity comes thanks to
BCS Member Ed Brown, who spotted an article in the Evening Standard. An
Australian woman who used daily trips to Richmond Park to help her get over
depression has had a map of it tattooed on to her thigh. Jessica Pinney flew
over to live with her parents in Richmond in 2004 when she went through a major
depressive episode and would visit the park every day to help her cope.

The 28-year-old, who has lived in Richmond
on-and-off since 1994, and now lives in Australia, had the royal park inked on
her left thigh in a three-and-a-half hour session in Melbourne.

The tattoo combines the current map of the park
with an older one and includes some personal place names such as Witchy Woods,
instead of Sidmouth Wood.

Jessica was quoted as saying: “I feel like Richmond
Park is my home and I wanted to have it tattooed on me so it’s always with me
and I’m kind of always there. It’ll be hilarious if I ever get asked for
directions in the park again - I can pull down my trousers or pull up my skirt
and give them some really good advice.” Yes, or she might get arrested!

Numbers are looking very
healthy for this year's BCS Symposium already and we could well have record attendance for recent
years, a great way to start ‘Maptember’ and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Society. I hope you have entered your maps for the BCS
Awards as well, the presentations for which will be at the Symposium. Entries
close on 31st July, full details on the website at BCS Awards.
And we also get a mention on Directions Magazine website Direction
Magazine.

You will also need
to be quick to catch the BCS 50th Anniversary book at its
prepublication price of just £12.50. The book combines a history of the Society
with a review of the last 50 years illustrated by maps to accompany the major
UK and international news stories. It reflects both the changing cartographic
world and recognises some of the major contributors to the Society since its
inception back in 1963. Whilst I suspect it won’t hit the Times Bestseller
list, it will be an interesting read for members and non-members alike, so why
not sort out your Christmas present buying all in one go!

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